VGN's Morri Branch

[NW Mailing List]

For help with my Morri Branch distress, thanks to the Hon. Mr. Chris Daltonius, to Attorney Jerome Kayzhinsky, to the ever-gracious Mr. James Hall, Grand Duke of Rural Hall, and to Admiral James Blackstock, Comondante of the Smith Mountain Fleet pf Tugboats and Ferries. To all who joined our Patreon and faxed in donations to enable the research, tax receipts will be sent out shortly...

As time permits (and as age allows,) I will be chipping away at creating a map in the Google Earth program, identifying the VGN New River Division Branches. We now have digital access to copies of all 250,000 USGS Topo Maps which were created over the years, beginning in the late 1880s, The rights-of-way are still visible in the satellite imagery, and LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is helpful in finding some of the early tracks which are now covered by vegetation. So, I think we can figure out most of the branch line identifications.

If someone could find a copy of the VGN's periodically published List of Official List of Officers, Agents and Stations, that would be the cat's meow for identifying the lines.

But beyond just a good map, it would be EXTREMELY helpful for posterity to compile a description of how the VGN operated this territory. E.g. how often service was provided on the branches; the number of mine run crews operated each day out of Elmore, and where they went; the average number of loads coming off the branches per day; the location of run-around tracks and whether empties were pulled or shoved to the end of the branches; where Mallet engines could work, and where they were restricted; where the water tanks were located; agency functions and where/how was waybilling done; which branches were operated by Time Table and Train Orders, and which were operated by some other means (such as a Train-on-Branch signal, Register Rights, or just old timey "smoke signals.") But all this is beyond my reach out here on the Turnip Reservation, and someone local to the area would need to work it up.

Stay warm. The Snow, she be a' comin' !

-- abram burnett
Amalgamated Order of Turnip Patch Workers, AFL-CIO